This placemaking article is about Harvard Uni in the US. Harvard Uni have engaged PPS to achieve a place of sense that’s both attractive  and active for students and other stakeholders.

Last year ID/Lab developed a user experience audit for Waurn Ponds Deakin Uni in Geelong, Vic, while we also interviewed stakeholders.

Staff felt that more could be done to minimise the amount of direction giving around campus. A practical approach was needed:

Signage needed to be revamped, including the campus map and certain pathways needed to be more dominant. The carpark addressing system had to be simplified, including improving the pre-visit info and message hierarchy.

Such changes all add to achieving a place of sense and attraction, especially for new students, as nothing is so frustrating as feeling lost.

PPS (Project for Public Places) is a nonprofit US organisation helping people turn their public spaces into vital community places. They have been focusing on squares for the last 30 years and developed 10 principles to create successful squares, based on analysis and observations of hundreds of them. They found that design is actually just a small fraction of what makes squares stand out. It’s a heap of others factors that extend beyond its physical dimensions that make it succeed.

Those 10 principles are:

1. Image and Identity

2. Attractions and Destinations

3. Amenities

4. Flexible Design

5. Seasonal Strategy

6. Access

7. The Inner Square & the Outer Square

8. Reaching Out Like an Octopus

9. The Central Role of Management

10. Diverse Funding Sources

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